


Support From Your Teammates

by Stylin_Breeze



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Coffee Shops, Fluff, Gen, Haikyuu Season 4 Spoilers, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:34:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23706958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stylin_Breeze/pseuds/Stylin_Breeze
Summary: On New Year's Day, two pairs of individuals coincidentally visit the same coffee shop to have a serious chat where, theoretically, no one they know will be.
Relationships: Ennoshita Chikara & Kinoshita Hisashi, Koganegawa Kanji & Sakunami Kousuke
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15
Collections: HQ!! Writers Fic Exchange





	Support From Your Teammates

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Crows_Imagine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crows_Imagine/gifts).



> This is set after Season 4 Episode 8 or after Chapter 228 in the manga.
> 
> To my giftee:  
> I suppressed and glossed over as many potential bad feelings as possible, but a hint of negativity crept in nonetheless. Blink and you'll miss it.
> 
> That being said, I do hope you like this! I know how much you enjoyed Kinoshita's faces when he came up to serve. XD

In one of the outlying suburbs of Sendai, an independent coffee shop opened a month ago. It boasted faux, varnished wood furniture; free Wi-Fi; and dubiously trademarked brews alongside quirks such as the “macchiato” was actually a cappuccino. It fast became known for its friendly staff and free refills.

Ennoshita had been once before. He enjoyed the atmosphere. The gauche design of the large unit subdivided the seating area into sections painted in primary colors that felt like an art gallery. The cube-shaped sections created an illusion of intimacy and privacy, another draw.

It was here, on New Year’s Day, when several of their peers were visiting shrines (including the third-years for their last time in high school), that Chikara invited Kinoshita.

And just Kinoshita.

“Hey,” Hisashi greeted his teammate, already in line for a beverage. Ennoshita defied the nippy weather and ordered an iced coffee. Craving some gari this morning, Kinoshita settled for spiced ginger coffee. Then they got themselves away into one of the subdivisions to await their drinks. Ennoshita thought he saw the door to the kitchen move, but no one emerged.

“So, what did you want to drag me out here for?” Kinoshita asked. About halfway between their hometown and central Sendai, this place wasn’t local. It’d been a struggle to get out of bed for Hisashi too, having stayed up far too late practicing serves with Noya on top of eight back-to-back sets against Datekou yesterday. His arms still screamed and his fingers felt tired after serving so much to the indomitable Noya. Kinoshita wouldn’t admit to catching a few winks on the bus ride in.

“This place is good,” Chikara answered with a sly smile. Hisashi felt unconvinced. He had the sneaking suspicion Ennoshita was up to something.

But Chikara was content to wait for their orders and chat a little before bringing up the real subject.

Directly across the partition from the Karasuno pair, two other high schoolers happened to be mingling. They’d ventured from the city to the out-of-the-way joint to avoid encountering any of their volleyball teammates from Datekou High School.

Koganegawa flexed his fingers unsurely, contemplating their shimmer in the ceiling lights. His fingernails had been freshly trimmed that morning—correcting a slapdash job performed half-awake the previous eve.

“Why did you pick this place?” inquired Sakunami when their drinks were delivered. Kanji had ordered a hot chocolate while Kousuke subversively selected green tea with a hint of cherry.

“My aunt and my uncle live around here,” Kogane said, eagerly sipping the mug and summarily burning his tongue. He panted like a dog to cool it off. Kousuke suppressed the urge to giggle.

But then, Kogane became reticent.

“So, hey, uh, how can I do finger training?”

Kousuke tipped his head to the side. “Like, how do you mean?”

Sakunami’s confusion startled Kanji. He didn’t know how to explain; after hearing Kageyama nonchalantly use the phrase “finger training” yesterday, Kogane assumed it a universally understood term.

“I mean, like, you know, to make your fingers stronger?” he struggled. He wriggled his digits in front of him as if to illustrate the point.

“Did Futakuchi say something?” Kousuke probed.

Kogane froze. “No,” he lied. Sakunami didn’t buy it.

After Kogane proudly said he would adopt finger training as part of his regimen, Futakuchi jabbed that the setter wouldn’t last three days. What irritated Kogane the most was the doubtless accuracy of Kenji’s prediction. Sure enough, trying to do “finger pushups” on a whim this morning was much harder than it sounded. In spite of it all, Kogane was determined to prove Futakuchi wrong. (As well as become a better setter, be as good as Kageyama, yada yada yada….)

Across the partition, Hisashi cradled the warm cup when it arrived, the heat soothing his fingers.

“I’m going to say something,” Chikara said after savoring the first sip of his iced coffee.

Kinoshita nodded as the smooth, ginger-flavored drink soothed his mouth with incomparable bliss.

“…Don’t ever try to hide behind me again.”

Kinoshita involuntarily spat the comforting warmth back into the cup. He grimaced as he had when Coach threatened him with sitting next to him if he tried to avoid getting called up to serve again.

“You know you always do that, right?” Ennoshita pushed. Hisashi flinched. He didn’t realize it was that obvious.

Staring at the speckled ceiling, Sakunami pondered Kogane’s quandary.

“So, you want to strengthen your fingers because you want to emulate Kageyama,” he rephrased when Kogane finished explaining his predicament. _And, probably, because you want to prove something to Futakuchi,_ he added inwardly.

The green setter’s eyes twinkled that his conundrum had been understood. Kousuke noticed Kanji’s carefully cut fingernails. The desire to be like Kageyama was written all over the boy.

But even without being a setter, Sakunami knew Tobio Kageyama’s skills came from years of cultivation. Under no circumstances could Kogane catch up.

“This is going to sting, but I don’t think you should try to be like Kageyama….”

Chikara sighed. “Look. I know you’ve put in the work. I’ve watched you for two years. But you don’t like to admit that you’ve actually gotten _good_. Don’t worry about it so much.”

Kinoshita gazed into the ginger-scented foam. He recalled his worries when he practiced with Noya last night: _If there’s a chance I’ll fail, trying for success isn’t worth it_.

“You’re worried about failing,” Ennoshita continued, “but if you never take the risk required to succeed, then you’ve already failed.”

The words penetrated Hisashi’s soul even deeper than the ginger liquid.

“You and Kageyama aren’t the same,” Sakunami said. “He’s an awesome setter, and wanting to learn from him is good, but trying to be exactly like him isn’t.” _And don’t let our captain get to you_ , he thought, biting his tongue.

Kogane waffled, prompting Sakunami to mention an observation he made during their matches with Karasuno yesterday.

“You know, I kind of feel like, towards the end, Kageyama was making a few more mistakes than usual. Especially setting for that tall middle blocker of theirs.”

A lightbulb lit above Kogane. Yes, he had noticed it too! It both shocked and comforted Kanji that even a superstar like Tobio could overshoot some of the sets to Tsukki.

“And,” Sakunami mulled, “I kind of got the impression the reason he did it was because of you….”

Kogane cocked an eyebrow, unsure how someone as meager as him could affect _the_ Tobio Kageyama.

“It seemed like the balls that missed were set pretty high, and I don’t remember him trying that before,” Kousuke continued. “I kind of think it was a new thing he was trying with that one blocker…and I sort of got the impression he did it to try and match you.”

 _If you never take the risk required to succeed, then you’ve already failed._ Ennoshita’s sage words swept away the ache of Kinoshita’s muscles.

When they would step up to face nationals in less than a week, Hisashi would not let himself choke. If he had to, he would even look to Chikara for support.

But Chikara exhaled, scraping his seat out a little. “But who am I to talk? You’ll overcome all that on your own.” He winked.

Kinoshita softly smiled.

And then with a smirk, Ennoshita appended one more thing. “I’m looking forward to the day when I’m captain and I can use both you _and_ Yamaguchi as dependable gamechangers.”

Hisashi’s grip tightened around the cup.

He couldn’t wait for that day to come.

“You got it, _Captain_ ,” winked the pinch server.

They tapped drinks like a pub and downed them.

After mulling Sakunami’s words, now jittering with excitement at the thought _he_ had impacted Karasuno’s topnotch setter, Kogane’s fingers clenched onto the cup.

“Hey, Sakunami. Thanks for always helping me.”

The out-of-nowhere compliment made his fellow first-year blush.

“It’s, uh, nothing,” Sakunami shyly replied.

Kogane raised his cup as if to propose a toast. Sakunami obliged, and their ceramic glasses clinked.

After some more casual chatting, Ennoshita’s eyes flicked around the room. “Weird. When I came here before, they were voracious about checking on you and offering refills.”

Kinoshita scanned what part of the shop they could see, but the server assigned to the floor wasn’t in sight.

“Hm,” Kogane said, peering around. “I thought they would come around and ask for refills. This was good; I want another. You?”

“Sure!” said Kousuke.

“Kinoshita, you want a second round?” Chikara asked.

“Definitely,” he chuckled. “This was delicious!”

Ennoshita rose, and so did Koganegawa. They both emerged from their sections by the kitchen entrance. First, they looked away from one another, scanning for the absentee server. And then simultaneously, they turned their necks toward one another.

Their eyes bulged.

“It’s you!”

Sakunami and Kinoshita separately jumped at the unison holler and rushed over to their companions.

And soon the four were gleefully chatting and laughing in front of the kitchen.

On the other side of the kitchen door, a recently hired server trembled, finding every excuse to not exit onto the floor. The distinctive laughter of the foursome made her sweat.

When she’d peeked out earlier, she spotted the pairs of volleyball players in separate sections. The poor new barista applied to this particular establishment because she banked on no one she knew frequenting it, just to keep the job her little secret.

Then, her manager realized she was shirking her duties and ordered her into the lobby.

Interrupting the volleyballers’ banter, a server stepped out of the kitchen and stopped right in front of them.

“Hi,” Nametsu said, with as little enthusiasm as possible. “Do you want refills?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Kudos and comments welcome. ~Breeze


End file.
